Digital Associate Creative Director - Blue Buffalo

About Blue Buffalo: Founded in 2003 in Wilton, Connecticut, Blue Buffalo is the leader in premium quality, all-natural pet nutrition. Our brand has experienced double and triple-digit annual growth over the past several years through strong ads, strategic marketing programs, and innovative product releases. Purpose of Role: “Love Them Like Family, Feed them Like Family”. This is an exciting time to be part of the Blue Buffalo family, as the company is on a journey to revolutionize relationships with Pet Parents. This role is key to Blue Buffalo’s growth strategy: cultivating deeper, more meaningful relationships with Pet Parents that will drive incremental value and loyalty to Blue Buffalo. Blue Buffalo wants to be there to support Pet Parents during all the moments that matter in their lives, so more Pet Parents who love them like family can feed them like family. We are seeking an Associate Creative Director of Consumer Experiences to join our creative team and report directly to the Creative Director. In this role you will help shape the future of Blue Buffalo’s consumer (Pet Parent) experiences with a focus on evolving BLUE’s creative capabilities to support new and emerging channels. You will lead a team of creatives who share your passion for digital/omni-channel storytelling and inspire fresh ideas and concepts that bring to life our Blue Buffalo brand in relevant yet unexpected ways. You will orchestrate across the BLUE organization and with partners to deliver creative that aligns to the brand strategy and delivers on consumer needs with the many journeys Pet Parents can take to become a part of the Blue Buffalo family.

Lead & Champion:

• Apply a Pet Parent omni-channel experience lens to all creative initiatives, from ideation to in-market execution.
• Serve as the champion for digital-first, creative storytelling that delivers on Pet Parent expectations across all digital products and experiences.
• Oversee, inspire, and manage a team of creatives, working to consistently deliver fresh and innovative creative territories and concepts that grow awareness, conversion and loyalty to Blue Buffalo.
• Serve as the creative representative in cross-functional experience planning and review meetings, ensuring creative initiatives are scoped appropriately to meet timelines and budget.
• Concept fresh creative ideas that help grow consumer (Pet Parent) relationships with BLUE, across the moments that matter. Collaborate:
• Work closely with BLUE Brand Strategy, Experience, CRM, Channel and Performance & Optimization leaders on the development of consumer (Pet Parent) experience strategies, representing the role of creative in bringing the strategy to life across all consumer (Pet Parent) touchpoints.
• Work with Creative leadership and cross-functional teams to ensure digital creative is developed cohesively and connected with physical (in-store, product packaging etc.) to deliver on brand and Pet Parent needs holistically.
• Partner with Brand, Experience, CRM and Channel leads to understand consumer (Pet Parent) acquisition and engagement initiatives and oversee the development of supporting creative and copy, ensuring that it is developed to meet consumer (Pet Parent) needs and is fit for channel and purpose.
• Partner with Experience and Creative peers on the development of Content Strategies, continuously thinking through the role of creative in bringing the strategy to life.
• Manage all parts of the creative process for experience projects.
• Collaborate with Marketing and Performance & Optimization to set content measurement KPIs, success measures and identify test and learn opportunities.

Grow & Innovate:

• In collaboration with the Creative Director, help evolve the creative organization, acquiring and managing creative talent and operations to support business needs and the evolution of consumer (Pet Parent) experiences.
• Apply Creative best practices to continuously innovate the way in which BLUE approaches creative ideation and production to meet increasing creative requests.
• Identify, grow and manage relationships with agency and creative partners to support the ongoing creation and execution of brand assets (photography, images, graphics, video) across paid/owned/earned channels.
• Oversee the sourcing of vendor and/or freelance talent, including influencers/bloggers, photographers, videographers, designers, copywriters to meet new demands and deliver on market leading creative ideas. Other Responsibilities Requested: Partner with existing agency partners and oversee the onboarding of new vendor/partners in support of consumer (Pet Parent) strategies and BLUE experiences. Ensure brand standards are maintained across digital creative/content efforts Partner closely with Marketing, CRM, Channel Activation and Experience Product teams to understand new creative/content needs based on consumer (Pet Parent) journeys, determine creative requirements, feasibility and define associated timeline including presenting creative concepts and new creative territories, casting and agency/talent negotiation, pre-production work, production, post-production in support of omni-channel experience needs Work closely with functional counterparts (e.g., legal, finance) on the sourcing of new vendor and/or freelance talent. Qualifications:
• BA or BFA in Marketing, Communications or related field
• 10+ years as a creative leader; experience with a brand studio or agency environment a plus
• Experience leading and managing creative initiatives and projects with delivery across multiple channels (digital & physical +)
• Proven track record in the successful delivery and execution of multi-channel/digital content projects
• Ability to communicate with ease to senior level executives and translate creative ideas into concepts that articulate relevancy to the business.
• Knowledge of design applications in traditional and emerging channels
• Adept at working with cross-functional stakeholders and balancing varying requests.
• Experience working in agile and managing agile teams.
• Experience working with and managing brand/vendor/agency partners.
• Must be able to work in an environment with free-roaming companion pets. Preferred Qualifications: Visionary and storyteller mindset with the ability to direct and guide real-world execution Ability to think big picture yet refine ideas into relevant and fresh creative platforms (across channels). Understanding of consumer behaviors and preferences and market trends to drive creative origination and marketplace differentiation. Experience working with and/or in a CPG or related industry, is a plus. COMPANY OVERVIEW We exist to make food the world loves. But we do more than that. Our company is a place that prioritizes being a force for good, a place to expand learning, explore new perspectives and reimagine new possibilities, every day. We look for people who want to bring their best — bold thinkers with big hearts who challenge one other and grow together. Because becoming the undisputed leader in food means surrounding ourselves with people who are hungry for what’s next.